I'll give you "Happy," but I've always had a bit of a problem with "Bitch," although it's not the horn section's fault, really. I just don't like Jagger's performance that much; it sounds like he's trying too hard to be risqué or shocking.

From here, it's a straight (and descending) line to Tarzan ropes and giant inflatable penis props on tour.

Jimbo wrote:Look, all I know is pretty much what I get from Robert Parry over at Consortium News.

I'll give you "Happy," but I've always had a bit of a problem with "Bitch," although it's not the horn section's fault, really. I just don't like Jagger's performance that much; it sounds like he's trying too hard to be risqué or shocking.

From here, it's a straight (and descending) line to Tarzan ropes and giant inflatable penis props on tour.

Matt Wilson wrote:Album: The Singles Collection box set (is this cheating? Then Let it Bleed)Song: are you kidding?

Haha...looks like you and I are in the same boat here.

It's got more great songs on it than any of their albums let's put it that way. And since I've always viewed the Stones LPs (great as they are) with a certain amount of skepticism (there always seems to be a filler cut or sometimes two--even on the best of them) the Singles Collection just seems to do it for me more than any of the more obvious 1968-1972 choices

Matt Wilson wrote:Album: The Singles Collection box set (is this cheating? Then Let it Bleed)Song: are you kidding?

Haha...looks like you and I are in the same boat here.

It's got more great songs on it than any of their albums let's put it that way. And since I've always viewed the Stones LPs (great as they are) with a certain amount of skepticism (there always seems to be a filler cut or sometimes two--even on the best of them) the Singles Collection just seems to do it for me more than any of the more obvious 1968-1972 choices

Probably what I'd grab if I could only take one Stones release of any kind. Wish it had the better version of "Out Of Time" though.

Impossible to pick a favorite Stones song. Mine's changed 12 times in the time it took to type this sentence.

The Stones are simultaneously one of my favourite bands ever and one which I can never quite warm to. I know it sounds like a weird, psychologically impossible distinction but let me try to explain.

Basically, my experience with this band is almost entirely tied up with my friends during sixth form, especially one guy who continues to be one of my very best friends. He's something of an alpha male, who enjoys beer, barbecuing, gangster films and classic rock and I just never knew if the Stones represented an (unironic) summation of all these things for him. They're his favourite band but I didn't know if he saw the differences in Gimme Shelter and Start Me Up that I did. I never wanted to make a big critical deal about it but it did make me wonder.

Nevertheless, whenever 'Brown Sugar' was pumped out during a house party at a reckless amount of decibels, all of that was immaterial. I can honestly say that I've had more visceral pleasure from the Stones than from thousands of other bands, quite a few of whom I'd claim to like more than them. 'Walk Before They Make Me Run' completely soundtracked an amazing lads-on-tour holiday to Copenhagen last summer and it still thrills me, as does almost every damn thing on Forty Licks.

Yet I don't feel that I can call them my band because my way of experiencing music has been, for the most part, about making discoveries on my own. I'm listening to Lee Perry now and he just sounds like 'me' more than the Stones ever could because I've grown to love him in my own time, on my own terms - despite the fact that I doubt that the pleasure I get from either is quantiatively different. The Stones are a monster, a completely undeniable, fuck-off monster, but they're for sharing. In some ways, this makes them better than most things, but I simply can't get into a record of theirs sitting on my own, browsing through BCB.

Apart from Exile, but I got into that way before any of the other associations emerged. That will be my choice for album.

Song - 'Gimme Shelter'

Brother Spoon wrote:I would probably enjoy this record more if it came to me in a brown paper bag filled with manure, instead of this richly illustrated disgrace to my eyes.

Favourite song is interchangable for every different day, hour or minute but when listening to Exile this morning this is the song that got me. From the lazy groove, Keef's backing vocals and then Bobby Keys' sax solo, the song is so.... groovy....

I'll always pick Exile as my favroute album, there isn't another album in the world which exists as one entity as strong as Exile does. The reasons I mentioned for Casino Boogie could probably be used to praise any song on this album or the entire album itself. This album takes me away to another place and at times you can imagine being in Keef's mansion with them.

On another matter, I think it was Chippernolan who mentioned that Sticky Fingers defines the Stones' 'sound' and he is right. Sticky Fingers probably defines them as a band and from that point of view I can see why a lot of folks picked it as their favourite but Exile is Keef's album and he recorded it the way he wanted to and it benefits so much from that, I think.

I actually thought that Mike did a decent job of explaining why it was his passion for Exile that makes it his favourite.
It is the "informed choice" as Pete was rightly lampooning, but you cant argue with such an emotive arguement.